Udok-Rif
Udok-Rif is a small planet primarily inhabited by trolls. Much of the land ecosystem is forest, with a vast mountain range surrounding much of the equator, leaving a relatively small part of the tropics warm. Trolls The trolls of Udok-Rif are rather diverse. All of them are hardy, strong, long-lived, and have leathery, clay-like skin that hardens when it gets too hot. Most trolls are carnivorous and hunt or trap large game. They are generally social among themselves, living in tribes or clans, and are fairly hospitable to a lost traveler (even of another species), but will rarely interact with another tribe if they can help it. One exception to this isolation between tribes is a gathering of all the inhabitants of a particular region for feasting and telling stories. In some densely populated regions, this gathering happens every eight years, but more often it is at irregular intervals of usually thirty to eighty years. Trolls of Udok-Rif are fairly intelligent in terms of hunting and building homes, but have little inventive urge. Since they have an extremely high tolerance for food shortages, they are quite content to enjoy the rhythms of nature rather than manipulate it. Forest Trolls The forest trolls are the most common and can be found in almost every forest on Udok-Rif. Adults are about three meters in height, and males usually have a mossy beard. Their clothing usually consists of a simple but modest loincloth, and various forms of jewelry for elders/chiefs and mothers. They are active at night, in caves, or on overcast days. When they are outside during a sunny day, they will stiffen up into a rock-like sleep until it cools off at night. When it's cold enough for fire and sunlight to have little effect, clans of forest trolls can often be found exchanging long and well-crafted stories around a fire for days on end. Mountain Trolls Mountain trolls range from six to fifteen meters in height and are the most solitary of all troll varieties. Family clans are usually spread across several mountains and have various ways of communicating across indirect and windy distances, but many utilize a special dialect of howls and groans that echo between mountains in a way that it rather eerie to the bypassing explorer. Elfin Trolls Elfin trolls are about one meter in height, very active, and small enough to keep cool and not harden during the day. They live throughout a particular large forest in Udok-Rif's southern hemisphere, and interact with the forest trolls of that region more often than is considered proper among other trolls. Elfin trolls are omnivorous due to their higher activity level and more consistent need for food. They are also the most welcoming of outside visitors, leading explorers from other planets to set up their single permanent outpost on the planet in their forest. Plains/Desert Trolls Trolls on the plains and deserts of Udok-Rif are basically forest trolls who prefer more open space. Desert trolls are more sand-colored and more strictly nocturnal. Plains troll tribes have been known to keep livestock, shepherding at night and using their stony bodies as a pen during the day.